"The fist pump by Alex Burrows was more exuberant than normal and the grin was much broader.

In midst of a brutal game-long battle for position with former teammate Shane O'Brien, it was the feisty Canucks winger who made the pivotal move Wednesday and was then only happy to tell everyone about it. Especially O'Brien.

With the pesky Predators clinging to a 1-0 lead in the third period, it was Burrows who got position between O'Brien and Shea Weber to deliver the tying goal en route to a 2-1 victory for the Western Conference leaders.

When former Predators defenceman Dan Hamhuis unloaded one of his five shots from the point, Burrows was able to get his stick on the puck and then shovel the rebound past Pekka Rinne on the backhand. He then made sure O'Brien saw his celebration and heard it, too, because the two were even jawing in the warmup.

"We had a couple of good battles and I gave it to him when I scored," said Burrows. "I was a bit lucky. 'Hammer' made a heads-up play by shooting the puck and I was able to get a tip and a lucky rebound to get us going. For a long time we had a feeling it might not be our night."

That's because the Predators had allowed just 26 goals in their previous 13 outings in which they amassed a 10-3-0 record. Add Rinne, who is second in goals-against average (2.11) and save percentage (.929), and there was a recipe in place for the Canucks to lose for just the fourth time despite 35 shots. But they own the conference's best home-ice mark (17-3-5) for a reason.

"They don't give up a lot but we were much better in the second half and got pucks in deep and more shots through traffic," added Burrows. "I thought we showed a lot of good energy because it looked like a night when we might only get one goal. We really didn't have a lot of scoring chances because they play five guys in front and they have great back-side pressure."

The Canucks nearly lost a second defenceman in as many games when the Predators opened scoring."